Mridu_LMF_Analysis

//Learning Motivation and Fun//
 //View// the assignment page //for a more detailed explanation of this project.//

//This analysis addresses the following two questions://   **My Five Generalizations:**
 * //What makes learning fun and engaging?//
 * //What are the implications for your own teaching and design work?//


 * 1. There are three categories of fun, learning and motivating (LFM) experience. It is interesting to note that, in this analysis, out of 165 total participants, 66** **stories (40%) of content type are** **academics related,** **73 stories (44%) are** **hobby related and** **23 stories (13%) are** **career related.** Following are the focus of different age-groups under the three divisions.

2% (4/165 stories) between ages ‘2-9’ years. 18% (30/165) between ages ‘10-19’ yrs. 10% (17/165) between ages ‘20-29’ yrs. 7% (11/165) between ages ‘30-39’ yrs. 2% (3/165) between ages ‘40-49’ yrs. 0 stories between ages '50-59’, '60-69', and ''70+' yrs.
 * Academic**: Maximum fun learning - academic related experience occurred between 10-19 years of ages. There were:

4% (7/165 stories) between ages ‘2-9' years. 8% (14/165) between ages '10-19' yrs. 13% (21/165) between ages '20-29' yrs. 8% (13/165) between ages '30-39' yrs. 7% (11/165) between ages '40-49' yrs. 2% (4/165) between ages '50-59 yrs. 2% (3/165) between ages '60-69' yrs. 0 stories between ages '70+' yrs.
 * Hobby:** Maximum fun learning - hobby related experience occurred between 20-29 years of ages.

0 stories between ages ‘2-9’ yrs. 0.60% (1/165) between ages '10-19' yrs. 8% (14/165) between ages '20-29' yrs. 3% (5/165) between ages '30-39' yrs. 1% (2/165) between ages '40-49' yrs. 0.60% (1/165) between ages '50-59' yrs. 0 stories between ages '60-69' yrs and '70+ yrs.
 * Career****:** Maximum fun learning - career related experience occurred between 20-29 years of ages.


 * 2. Even though there were initial challenges involved in the learning, it did not demotivate the learner**. 43% (71/165) stories were found where people responded that the content was challenging but the output was positive.Out of these 71 respondents, four of them spotted the following points. For example, [|Andrew]’ faced initial problem learning the basics of a manual car. But he came out a winner! To him, in spite of the challenges, self-directed learning experience was a great way to learn as it boasts self-motivation the learner learns on his/her own pace without anyone to dictate the terms of learning. There is a sense of self-satisfaction.  [|Erica's] experience was challenging but it was fun gradually as it involved physical participation like going to a canyon and exploring about different types of bugs for her school science project. [|Heba's] international workshop on poster design was challenging as it involved participants fron different countries, but getting to know people from different parts of the world was fun. [|Kamina's] dance lessons were fun inspite of challenge because of a feeling of self-representation on behalf of her own school.

//For most of them, adopting to a new and challenging situation is very fun and there was a feeling of achievement, encouragement and self-motivation to do better in future.//


 * 3.** **Learning was fun when role play and fantasy were a major part of learning for 9% (15/165) learners**. [|Ronnie] explains how his instructor connected learning to real world by taking the students to various universities as part of teaching geography and politics. [|Shawn] explains about his coast guard training and how the room was made into a compartment with no leaders and it was fun as everyone was learning themselves by player the role of a leader. [|Chris] will never forget how he learnt solving geometry problem by a totally different approach of role play by acting like a detective. [|Asuman] learnt English and usage of grammar and vocabulary in a very natural way through theater performance.

//Role playing is like being thrown into the ocean where one learn to "either swim or sink".It is one of the most memorable learning experience for the learner.//


 * 4.** **Cooperation is a crucial part of the fun learning process for 38% (62/165) learners**. [|Al] says, "working as a team facilitates learning process". [|Aurora] mentions that cooperation helps in engaging practice with a partner and and that retains the knowledge better. [|Beatriz] brings a very interesting point of how cooperation promotes a a common goal in learning and a sense of team culture. This helps in getting information quickly and whenever something is achieved there is team celebration on and a feeling of accomplishment by the whole team.


 * 5.** **Humor by instructor influence fun learning for 26% (43/165) learners.** [|Jason] talked about how a tour guide can make the whole fun and learning experience different. He talked about how the funny descriptions of a museum by a tour guide was interesting to him on the first day of his tour while the second day of his tour was not interesting because the new tour guide was less interesting and boring. [|Jodi] talks about her “outrageous teaching” course presentation of six hours on a Saturday and it was very interesting. The teacher involved humor into his teaching . The teacher walks in a pirate uniform and with background music of "The Pirates of Caribbean" while he entered the class. The instructor talked in a mysterious manner and grabbed attention by showing everything in a funny way. [|Mary] mentioned taht the instructor’s casual manner was easier to follow and there was plenty of opportunity to succeed. [|Sam] says, "the instructor knew how to get attention and knew what he was doing and made the learning humorous by explaining different fallacies that people do".


 * Implications**: When I was generalizing the points from the LMF Videos there were few crucial points (besides many others) that I noted which are important to many people at the same time.

i) //Cooperation// is extremely crucial in any learning conditions, be it a dance lesson, or a high school social studies class, or learning to surf or participating in an international conference, or at a drawing class and so on. ii) //Role of instructor// is very important in shaping up the entire learning process. The instructor should be more like the anchor of the entire play and jump in whenever and wherever required. iii) //Flexibility//: Fixed boundaries/norms/rules and regulations are not much fun and engaging for learning. A flexible learning environment is more appealing to most learners. After all who do not enjoy freedom! iv) //Experiencing the Knowledge//: Learning is more fun when experiencing that learning in reality and simultaneously while learning.

However, as my classmate Cathy mentioned in her analysis report at her wiki page, "what makes a learning experience fun for one student may not necessarily be fun for another". It is so true! For different age group, situations, conditions, criteria etc the concept or feeling of fun could vary. However as i proceed with my teaching and design work i will keep the above points in mind while dealing with my students or clients.

In conclusion, i am reminded of an article titled, "[|How shaking up Shakespeare could make learning more fun]" by Simon Meadows who says, “If you ever slogged over a Shakespeare text as a school pupil and saw it simply as a means to an end – to be endured in return for good exam grades – then you'll understand the motivation behind a new campaign to make it a more pleasurable experience...As someone who struggled hugely with the graft of ploughing through the plays at school but has since enjoyed them in a live context, I can certainly relate. Seeing Shakespeare fleshed out on stage as an adult, was like a light bulb switching on". Last but not the least, i found these sentences meaningful because, i feel THE most important thing for any experience to be fun and engaging is to see, feel and sense and participate in it.